Discover Cooking

The history of the waldorf salad and a few other famous dishes starts with the most unlikely of persons, a swiss waiter who had risen to become the “maitre d’hotel” of the famous Waldorf Hotel in New York City. His name was Oscar Tschirky and along with the Waldorf Salad he also brought us eggs benedict and thousand island dressing.

According to some sources, this unique apple salad was created to honor the guests of a “society supper” to celebrate the opening of the Waldorf Hotel with a new and innovative dish. It was later published in a cookbook by Oscar Tschirky which he simply called “The Cookbook by Oscar of the Waldorf”. It was an instant hit and has since had its place in American restaurants and kitchens.

The now famous salad originally only combined apples, celery and mayonnaise. Later many additions have been made to the waldorf salad recipe, most importantly the fact that walnuts and raisins are now almost always added to this simple fruit salad. It is often served on a bed of green salad and is quite frequently turned into an entree by adding grilled chicken, turkey and the likes.

To this day you can get it at the “Oscar’s” at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. The original Waldorf hotel was torn down and the Waldorf Astoria was built a few blocks away in the early 20th century. Oscar moved to the new location and worked as the manager until his retirement in the 1940s.